NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media for his weekly press conference yesterday before the Wolfpack host Stanford on Saturday. You can watch the videos BELOW, and read the transcript UNDERNEATH.
All right. Just going back to our game with Cal.
It was a really good game and a heck of a comeback by our guys. To go eight straight games and finish that run with a long road trip, a long flight, bus ride, all those things, coast to coast, and to come back after two tough, one possession losses, it says a lot about the fight in the staff and this team. Proud of the guys for being resilient, and we are getting better and improving, and you can see that in a lot of areas.
Really proud of the guys and the staff for just showing and showcasing our perseverance, our toughness, and our togetherness. I think Cal’s a good football team. If they had a kicker, they’d probably won three more games.
They have really good defense. They lead the conference in turnover margin and scoring defense, so to win this game on the road was a heck of a game, and the passion and will to win of our players in the fourth quarter was really a beautiful thing to see. And some guys stepped up in that quarter, and it’s really cool when you see a captain and some of your older players make some critical plays to help you win a game.
I saw that with Davin Vann taking his pass rush to another level. The two sacks in the fourth quarter. Bishop Fitzgerald, Senior Safety, making some key plays, some pass breakups on critical downs. Can’t say enough about CJ Bailey and his improvement, how he’s grown not just as a player, but as a leader, finding chemistry with his guys.
You see it with different players and growth with him and Justin Joly and KC (Concepcion), Noah (Rogers), Dacari (Collins), giving guys chances to make plays down the field with balls that the defense can’t make plays on, and Wesley Grimes made a really nice play. Keenan (Jackson) and Terrell (Anderson) continue to improve. And then, obviously, Hollywood Smothers has been explosive for us, catching the football and running after the catch.
But you just see CJ’s confidence growing. And I like how he’s giving his guys a chance to make plays. He’s protecting the ball better.
And we played complimentary football in that fourth quarter, and we’ve played really well in the fourth quarter this year, with the exception of the end of the Wake game. I think our guys have really done a good job. And now, obviously, from an improvement standpoint, something we need to do better at the beginning of games.
But I think the bye week came at a good time. We were able to get some needed rest, get healthier for this four-game span that we have in November and dive into ourselves from a critical standpoint and self-scout, with tendencies, breaking down schemes, looking at players and what they’re doing well, what they’re not doing well, communicating those things in a productive way to our guys and looking at things we can do better, things that we need to spend more time on, things that we need to improve, tendencies and how we can break them, is a good blend of recovery time for the guys physically so that they could get fresh, but also reset mentally and then getting on the field and in the film room so they can grow and putting together a plan for them to do so, not just in fundamentals, but with scheme for us as coaches. In that game, I thought the conversion downs were the difference.
We won the third-down battle, fourth-down battle. On both sides of the football, we were able to stay on the field in a lot of cases on third down offensively and get off the field. We were two for two on fourth down.
They were 0 for 2 on fourth down and some critical downs. And red zone football, same thing. We were able to hold them to field goals and we were able to get some touchdowns and make our kicks inside the red zone.
And so some improvements, some momentum going into a bye, which is great for the football team. And now we move on to this four-game stretch, starting with Stanford, a home game, excited to be back home for the next two games, the last two home games for us. And our crowd was amazing at the last home game.
And we’d love to have you here in full force for these next two final games of the year and bring that energy and help us in our efforts to finish strong. You guys are a factor at home. And this needs to be, these next two games need to have that.
Gives us the best opportunity to finish strong in a very critical month of the season.
Stanford’s a tough team. Physically, when you watch the film, they play really hard.
They’ve had three different quarterbacks and they’re all athletic guys that can run around. Very impressed with their receiver, #13. He’s one of the better receivers that we’ve played in our conference.
On the defensive side, they have three defensive ends that are very identical in build. When you look at 23, 11 and 44, they’re long, athletic edge players. They scored two defensive touchdowns in their Wake Forest game.
They present a lot of different things, a lot of zone coverage, but two different fronts, even and odd and some pressures. They do a nice job mixing it up up front and adding different guys in for a fourth, a fifth, sixth rusher. But really focusing on how we can get better and continue to grow with the young guys that we’re playing with, particularly on offense, and getting some healthier guys back in the fold and Brandon Cisse, you know, practiced for us this week so far and looks like he’s ready to return, which is great for our secondary.
And just finding those little things, the turnover margin and finishing critical plays. And every football game comes down to four or five plays and you just don’t know when they’re going to happen and pushing these guys to make those plays in practice, just playing fast and physical and together. As I said, November is a really critical month in college football for all programs.
You’re putting yourself in a position to have postseason play or not. And I love to finish, and I know our players do, and look forward to the opportunity to do so here these next four games.
If they would have had a game after traveling back from Cal
We played the 12:30 game in California, as you know. And with that being said, still didn’t get back to Raleigh till almost 4 a.m. And so it would have been hard to have anything on a Sunday with the guys.
It was 4 a.m. Sunday when we landed, so guys aren’t in bed until 4.30 in the morning. So it would have changed our weekly routine.
Obviously, there would have been a sleep deficit that you’d be concerned with. Five and a half to six hours of sitting on a plane after playing a football game, coaching a football game, you could feel it in your legs. And for these guys, I think this is their fourth time going to the East Coast for Stanford.
And so it’s a lot. Travel is real. You can feel it.
And for us, going out there on a Thursday made a difference. I can tell you that. Changing our routine from a travel standpoint. But I am thankful we have a bye on the back end of this, particularly with it being our 8th straight game.
It would have been really hard playing nine in a row coming off of that one.
Grayson McCall announced his medical retirement last week. Just how did those conversations go when he talked to you about that?
I asked him how he wanted to go about the next stage, and he needed time.
And I said, ‘You do whatever you need to do. We’re here to support you.’ And that’s really it.
I’m like, ‘When you’re ready to announce the next steps, let’s have a conversation.’ And we knew where this thing was going. I wanted him to do it his way.
He’s earned every opportunity in this sport. He’s a great teammate. He’s a tremendous young guy to coach.
And he’s got a bright future as a coach if that’s what he chooses to do. But as a leader, for sure. And it was pretty simple.
You know, ‘Hey, do what you need. What do you need from us? How can we help in the process?’ And speaking with him and his family, ‘When do you need time?’ And he needed time with his family during the bye week, which we totally got. And I was happy for him that he was able to do it his way.
I know that was a tough week, as it is for any player. When it ends without it being your choice, when basically God is telling you it’s time to stop. And he is a spiritual young man.
And so being able to lean into his path that way and trust in the Lord, I think, was a big part of this for him.
When did he tell you? Was it way ahead of time? Did you know for a while? And then did he address the team at all? How did he let his teammates know?
No, I mean, I think he’s done it all in his own time. We kind of knew after the game.
I mean, if he had another one, that was probably it, and it was pretty quick. It was more a matter of the steps he wanted to take and when he was ready to make it a public thing. And it’s a big step to make that announcement and have to say those words, even though you know that it’s probably happening, to say those words out loud and to do it the way that he did.
I thought it was really well done. There’s a lot of things, as you can imagine, being talked about before they become public.
You just mentioned how much you love to finish and you all were able to do that last season after your bye and hit the reset. I’m just wondering how crucial this year’s bye was, considering now you all know this is CJ’s team and being able to get the guys refocused, but also maybe understanding what he’s been able to do well so far to put you in position to finish the way that you want.
It’s similar and it’s not from last year. Last year, we were coming off of a pretty embarrassing loss to Duke.
And so the bye week was really a recalibration of a lot of things. We were going through the quarterback thing, as you know, which we don’t need to rehash. And the team did a great job buying into the changes we needed to make.
And we put our best foot forward and caught some momentum and beat Clemson, beat Miami, got on a roll there behind the different things we were doing. And this year, it’s more coming out of a win with back-to-back 300-yard games for a young quarterback, and he’s gaining confidence and momentum and timing. And so it’s building on that and looking at the things that we’ve done with him, areas that he’s having success, areas where he’s not, and not just him, the guys around him.
How can we take advantage of the things we’re doing well and what tendencies are on there that we need to fix? And then fundamentally, what can we do to help in protection? What can we do to help in the run game? But there’s a lot more momentum going into this year’s bye week than there was last year coming out of the game we had with Duke. And so that piece is different. I think you’re hoping for the same results, which is a better football team coming out of the break.
And we’re definitely in a better place health-wise. And that was critical because we were, it was slim. It was really slim at one point during that game.
I mean, there was some, not just fatigue, but there were some pretty sore guys playing. And so they needed a break.
What did you learn the most about this team after watching back the film and being able to take a week and spend on your own team this past week?
Well, without giving away things, because we have to play a game, there’s a lot of things you learn. The big-picture things, we need to play better early in the game. We are a really good fourth-quarter team when you look at it statistically, and we’re not a really good first-quarter team.
Being able to start the game better is something that sticks out statistically. When we take care of the football and do a good job on defense, getting it back, I mean, we’re undefeated since 2020 when we win the turnover margin. And if you look at the games we’ve lost this year, it’s a problem in those games.
And so those two factors are really paramount in our improvement. I think special teams-wise it’s been a weird year. It’s just been a lot of kicks in the end zone.
Our kickoff return hasn’t had a lot of opportunities. Our kickoff teams only had one kick back. When you look at what you need to get better at, our punt coverage at times. Caden’s (Noonkester) been a huge weapon, and at times we haven’t had the same success.
And so being more consistent in that area. Looking at our place kicker, Kanoah (Vinesett), from 40-and-in 100%, knock on wood. We’ve had him try some longer kicks and haven’t had success there.
It’s an area that he can improve. One of them’s not on him. He kicked a 52-yarder into the wind because it was fourth and 20.
Normally I’d have gone for it there. But I like what he’s doing. It’s interesting when you see it because, like, even our punt return team, we’ve been in safe punt almost a third of the time.
And if you can get your punt block team on the field, you got a chance for returns. You got a chance to rush punts. And we’ve just had a lot more fourth and medium to shorts where you’re worried about fakes from the other team.
So that’s an area that we’re really looking at, how we can gain an edge in the special teams part of the game because, as you know, that’s been a big factor for us over the years, being able to win games with that third of the game. And really the focus is individuals that have a lot of reps and how we can help them take another step. There’s little things in each position.
And you look at the offense, and you start always up front. What can we be better at at each position? Left tackle, left guard, center, right guard, right tackle, tight end, and finding one little thing in each guy’s game. We call it a ‘one more’ here.
But the thing that they need to put either put on film or take off of film between the bye week and the next game, I really believe in that aggregate improvement, across the board, and you look at each player. If somebody has a follow-up to that, I’m happy to continue.
I know that this probably must be the billionth time you’ve had to talk about it or think about it, but does Grayson’s decision to retire from football make you rethink concussions and football players and how they deal with safety and how the league deals with safety? And the second question is, have you had any kind of conversation with Grayson about his path to becoming a coach, whether he’s sought you out for advice on where to start or if he has a place on this NC State team and now or in the future as a coach?
Yeah. Part one of your question, we take their safety very, very seriously. Any time there’s any type of brain injury, concussion, they go through a rigorous protocol.
And sometimes it’s second and third opinion. Sometimes it’s even going to the NFL to get advice. Our staff does a tremendous job medically downstairs, Justin Smith and our team of docs.
Those aren’t decisions coaches make. They’re not. And as far as him as a coach, yeah, absolutely.
I told him, ‘If this is the path you want to be on, we’re all in helping you.’ And, obviously, he’s got our staff. He’s got Coach Beck’s staff.
He’s got Coach Chadwell’s staff. He knows a lot of coaches, and so he’s going to have opportunities in this profession if this is what he wants. And I think right now he’s just kind of feeling things out.
I don’t think it’s good for anybody to make rush judgments when they don’t need to. He’s got time, and he’s just enjoying being around the team right now. He’s still a captain.
He’s still leading. He’s helping CJ and Lex in meetings at practice today. He was fantastic.
He’s out there giving them advice, talking about what he sees, and he loves the game of football. He loves the brotherhood of football, and he’s going to be really good, if that’s the path. It could be high school.
It could be college. Who knows which direction he takes it, but I don’t think there’s a rush to that. I mean, the guy just made an announcement.
He’s not playing anymore. He can give himelf some time to decide his future.
In terms of the safety, I meant more so about your opinion on should players wear guardian caps or maybe some kind of extra. Football is a naturally violent sport, but there’s really no way around it when you’re a player and you’re getting hit over and over again. So have you had any extra thoughts about that now that Grayson’s gone through this?
Well, in his case, it wouldn’t have mattered. The helmet came off.
I think those are things that need to be discussed in the offseason. Again, there’s a lot of medical people that look at the safety not just in the NFL but the college level, and as coaches, we’re going to do what they recommend. And we wear them in practice every day.
If they think that’s the best foot forward in college football, then, yeah, I would be 100 percent behind it. But, again, I’m not going to make medical decisions based off statistics that I don’t have my hands on. And if that’s the direction people want to take it, you’re going to have full support from NC State.
You just played Cal. You’re playing Stanford this week, obviously. And then I know Duke just played SMU, so you’re scouting them, I probably would imagine, as well. So having seen the three teams, I was just wondering if you have an opinion as to what type of value they’re bringing to the ACC and the competitive level.
I watched the Duke-SMU game live. That was a crazy game, all the turnovers. And SMU certainly is having a good season. You can see their value, the way they’re playing, and very explosive on offense.
We just played Cal, and like I said, they have the number-one defense in our league right now, statistically. And so 17.1 points a game, I think, is what I saw today. It’s pretty impressive.
And I’ll have a better feel for you on Stanford after we play them, but all three teams are good football teams. They’re well-coached, have a lot of respect for their coaches being around them. They’re first-class guys.
They’re very professional guys. They know the league, and they’ve been around the sport. I’ve known two of them longer.
Troy’s the one I’ve probably known the least amount of time who we’re playing this week, but they’re good coaches, great programs, good schools. I got to tell you, playing at Cal, getting there is one thing, but being there, it’s a cool stadium. It’s cool to be in that environment, and our players really enjoyed being in the Bay and seeing all that, and it’s a life experience for them, so I don’t see anything but positives that way.
I was wondering if you had any updates on Devan Boykin, what his timetable for return is.
Not yet.
No, I mean, his recovery’s going really well, and when he’s ready to play, we’ll have him out there. But, again, we’re not going to rush him, and, yeah, everything’s been good. Downstairs, he’s working hard, and he’s done a great job doing everything they’ve asked.
How would you assess the run game to this point, through the first eight games? Seems like it’s been up and down. What is your point of view on that after watching it through in the bye week?
It’s interesting when you look at it. We have three backs averaging over four yards of carry, but when you look at our total run game numbers, they’re not good because of the negative yards plays we’ve had with sacks and TFLs, and so, it’s inconsistent.
It’s not where we want it to be yet, but it’s not a failure either, and I think you also get behind in a couple games where you stop running the football, and so we need to be better there. I’ll also tell you that some of the throws that we’re making are on-run plays, and so that’s a little bit misleading, too, when you’re in an RPO system like we are at times. There are handoffs to be made, and the coverage is telling us to throw it, and we’re throwing it for completions, and so sometimes it looks like you’re more pass-heavy offense than you are because the actual play call is a run with a pass, and it can go the opposite really quick if you’re defended in a different way, so, we’ll see how it goes.
You guys all know that I like the physicality of football. I do enjoy being able to be balanced and run the ball, and we’re not there right now. We’re not, and it’s something we need to get better at.
Quickly follow up on Grayson, you’ve talked about he’d make a great coach if that’s the road he wants to go. What kind of traits did he have as a leader and as a teacher that would make him a good coach if that’s the road he wants to go down?
Well, he’s a confident guy. He’s very humble as well.
He has a lot of humility. I think he has a lot of perspective. He was, you guys know his story, but, really coming out of high school, wasn’t very heavily recruited and overlooked and kind of a self-made guy.
Very decorated and plays the game hard, plays really hard, prepares really hard. He really respects the game, and when I say respects, I’m not just talking about the game itself, but what goes in behind the game, and how hard you have to work, and the way that the meeting should be, the preparation you should have at his position, the routine you need to have to prepare to win, the way that guys should practice around you, and how that irritated him. When a guy wasn’t going full speed and he wanted him full speed, and he would talk to him about that, there’s just a level of standard of play which coaches look for, too, and that’s where you could just see him as a player.
You’re like, ‘This guy’s going to be a good coach if that’s what he wants,’ and I really appreciate how he treats people, too. I mean, you can just see him having interactions with guys, coaches from both sides of the ball, players from both sides of the ball, and if you walk into the team meeting room, he’s always one of the first people there, always, and he’s just an impressive young man. He’s one of those guys that you just really pull for. I’m super excited about what’s next for him.
I mean, I think he’s going to be elite.
I saw you guys have a series coming up with Kansas State, and I wondered about your scheduling philosophy, especially in the college football playoff era. I know the ACC doesn’t want you playing at group of five schools. How difficult is it to sort of come up with a schedule that’s good enough, but also gets you where you want to go?
Yeah, I mean, scheduling is interesting because these games are scheduled so far out, sometimes seven or eight years out even, and I don’t know how you can do it right anymore because these conferences keep changing, and you sit there and you schedule a game and you wonder is that league now going to force them to play more league games, and now we’ve had some teams cancel on us in the SEC because they’re potentially having to play more league games.
I like having a competitive schedule. I also like having some games where I know I can get more players in the game and develop some youth and get some game experience for some guys, and when you look at some of the teams that are ranked right now and you have some teams that are six and seven wins and some of their strengths schedules aren’t very good, and then we played a really challenging schedule, as you know, early in the year. I think there’s value to being undefeated.
I think there’s also value, like Clemson opened with Georgia, and that’s a tough opener, but it sure has got them ready for the rest of the season. They’re playing really good football right now. So, I think you got to be smart about it.
You don’t want to put too much too soon because you do need to play your roster early in the year. I think that’s really important to get some of your backups, meaningful reps, but you don’t want it to be a cakewalk either. You want to be tested and you want to play against some good players so you’re ready for those higher-up conference games.
